Sean Gallup/Getty Images News
Bayer (OTCPK:BAYRY) (OTCPK:BAYZF) agreed to pay $160M to settle a lawsuit by the city of Seattle, Washington, that the company’s Monsanto unit polluted the local Duwamish River with banned chemicals in what the city says is the largest single settlement in an eight-year legal battle, Associated Press reported Thursday.
Monsanto was accused by the city of creating a public nuisance by manufacturing and marketing polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, that fouled the municipal stormwater drainage system and contaminated the river.
Although Monsanto stopped manufacturing PCBs in 1977, the chemicals continued to exist in paints, caulking and sealants on buildings, the lawsuit said, and as a result, stormwater flowing into the Duwamish was continually contaminated with PCBs.
Bayer (OTCPK:BAYRY) (OTCPK:BAYZF), which did not admit to any wrongdoing as part of the settlement, said in its court filings that the city sought more than $700M in damages tied to the contamination.
The company said $35M of the $160M settlement will go toward PCB remediation, with the remaining $125M to reimburse the city for cleanup, legal and other costs.
